Apparatus for driving elongated elements into underwater grounds

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for driving elongated elements such as piles, sheet pilings or tubes into the underwater grounds being operated from a central installation and including a device for generating directed periodic impulses, which device is submerged together with the element. The apparatus further includes assemblysupporting means comprised by the impulse-generating device and the element to be driven and being stationary with respect to the water bottom.

United States Patent lnventors Roger Tindy Bougival, Yvellnes; Andre Castela, Mesnil LeRoi, Yvellnes, both of France Appl. No. 836,713 Filed June 26, 1969 Patented Sept. 28, 1971 Assignee Institut Francais du Petrole des Carburants et Lubrifiants Rueil Malmaison (Hauts de Seine), France Priority June 27, 1968 France 156985 APPARATUS FOR DRIVING ELONGATED ELEMENTS INTO UNDERWATER GROUNDS 4 Claims, 6 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 175/6, 175/171 Int.Cl EZlb 7/12 Field of Search 175/6 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,665,885 l/1954 Gignoux.. 175/6 3,204,708 9/1965 Berne 175/6 3,279,547 10/1966 Berne et al.. 175/6 3,373,827 3/1968 Biron et al. 175/6 3,392,794 7/1968 Kurillo etal. 175/6 3,434,551 3/1969 Rosfelder [75/6 Primary Examiner-Jan A. Calvert Assistant Examiner-Richard E. Favreau Attorney-Craig, Antonelli, Stewart & Hill ABSTRACT: An apparatus for driving elongated elements such as piles, sheet pilings or tubes into the underwater grounds being operated from a central installation and including a device for generating directed periodic impulses, which device is submerged together with the element. The apparatus further includes assembly-supporting means comprised by the impulse-generating device and the element to be driven and being stationary with respect to the water bottom.

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APPARATUS FOR DRIVING ELONGATED ELEMENTS INTO UNDERWATER GROUNDS The present invention pertains to an apparatus which makes it possible to drive into underwater grounds elongated elements such as piles, sheet piling or tubes, this apparatus being operated from a central installation, for example from an aquatic installation, such as a floating platform, a ship etc....or alternatively from the shore.

The methods which are generally used for this purpose in marine environment, for example during offshore drilling operations, consist in driving the elongated element into the ground by maintaining and actuating them from the central installation. I

The stifiness of the elements to be driven makes it then necessary to use static or dynamic anchoring means for a floating central installation, and such means must be themore precise as the underwater grounds are more remote from the water surface.

An object of the present invention is to obviate this drawback by providing an apparatus enabling elongated elements such as piles, sheet piling or tubes to be driven into underwater grounds without the need of a rigid connection between the central station and the elements to be driven into the ground, the driving operation being performed by means of a self-driving i.e. self-vibrating, device generating periodic directional impulses, i.e. vibrations or percussions, this device being made integral with the elongated element to be driven and being submerged together with the latter.

More particularly, the invention pertains to an apparatus of the type set forth, operated from a central installation, which can be used irrespective of the water depth and which makes it possible to drive the elements vertically, even if the natural slope of the underwater bed is substantial and prevents the underwater currents to cause a deviation of the elongated elements from the vertical position.

Another object of the present invention is to make it possible to collect ground samples with the apparatus thus provided.

An additional object of the invention is to make it possible to build underwater anchoring points either by using directly the driven elements themselves or by pouring concrete into the underwater grounds through tubular elements driven by means of the vibrating device.

These objects are achieved according to the invention with an apparatus for driving elongated elements into the underwater grounds, operated from a central installation, including a device generating directed periodical impulses, adaptable to the element to be driven and destined to be immersed together with this element, power supply means and remote control means connected to said device, the apparatus including means for supporting the assembly constituted by said impulse-generating device and the element to be driven, through a connection enabling the orientation of the elongated element relative to the underwater floor, to be independent from that of said supporting means, said supporting means being stationary with respect to the water bottom and being located in the vicinity of said bottom.

Said connection may consist of at least one flexible line.

The self-vibrating device used in the apparatus according to the invention may be of a known type, which can be operated in the water.

It may for example be constituted of one or several pairs of eccentrically weighted rotors or flywheels so located that their axes are not in the same plane as the axis of the elongated member to be driven into the ground.

These flywheels, will be driven synchronously in rotation by at least one electric or hydraulic motor.

This vibrating device will be secured to the elongated elements through mechanical or more advantageously, through hydraulic means.

Nonlimitative embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. IA schematically illustrates an embodiment of the apparatus according to the invention,

FIG. 1B is another view of the same apparatus,

FIGS. 2A to 2D shows an overall schematic view of the operation of this apparatus.

In the embodiment schematically illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 18, a vibrating device 13 is used and is connected through suitable means such as, for example, hydraulic-clamping means to an elongated element 18 to be driven into the ground. This element 18 is in this embodiment a tube inter nally provided with a core-barrel or grab 19, which is used for collecting ground samples or for emptying the tube 18 as this tube is being driven into the ground.

In the illustrated embodiment, the central installation from which the apparatus is operated is a floating installation constituted by a ship N.

The cables 10 are connected to a base structure 14 lying on the water bottom and are reeled on the ship on two constanttension winches (not shown).

These cables 10 guide radial arms 9 located at the upper part of the tube 18 and are associated with the devices 4 and 7, thereby providing for the guiding of the core-barrel 19 between the surface installation and the top of the tube 18 driven into the underwater bed.

The reference numerals 4 and 7 designate respectively two guide collars for the core-barrel 19 and are provided with radial arms. The lower element 7 is suspended through cables 6 from the upper element 4 by means of spring driven reeling devices 5 carried by this upper element 4.

The guide elements 4 and 7 are respectively adapted to the upper and lower ends of the core-barrel and provide for the guiding of this barrel during the lowering and the raising thereof by sliding along the guide cables.

The base structure 14 also supports power means 16 and control means 17 connected to the ship N through power line 20a and control line 20b. The assembly of these lines is generally indicated by reference numeral 15.

The base structure 14 is provided at its top with winches 1-l enabling the vibrating device 13 to slide along the tube 19, and this sliding motion is achieved by reeling or unreeling cables 12 connected to the vibrating device 13.

A cable or flexible pipe 3 wound on winch 2, as shown in FIG. 1A, is connected to the top of tube 18 through suitable securing means 8 which may be ofa known type, including for example, retractable fingers and makes it possible to handle both tube 18 and core-barrel 19 from the ship N.

The winches will advantageously be of a type exerting an adjustable, substantially constant tension on cable 12.

It is apparent that the apparatus according to the present invention makes it possible to drive tube 18 vertically, even if the base structure 14 has a substantial inclination, due to the slope of the water bed whereon this structure lies, since the cables 12 remain vertical at the beginning of the driving operation under the weight of the assembly constituted by the tube 18 and the vibrating device 13.

Furthermore the action of the underwater currents does not affect the vertical orientation of tube 18 during the driving thereof, since, according to the invention, the assembly of tube 18 and vibrating device 13 is supported from the top of the base structure 14, i.e. from points located in the vicinity of the water bottom.

If, on the contrary, the assembly of tube 18 and vibrating device 13 was supported from the ship itself through one or more cables, the tube 18 might, become inclined with respect to the vertical during the driving operation; this inclination is the higher as the water depth becomes greater and the underwater currents stronger, as a result of the action of these currents on the cables which would then support tube 18 from the ship.

The part of cable 3 between the securing system 8 and the top of the core-barrel 19 has a sufficient length to provide for location of core-barrel 19 in tube 18. The cable 3 is provided with conductors which make it possible to control from the surface installation the fixation of core-barrel 19 in the proper working position.

This fixation may, for example. be achieved by means of retractable fingers hydraulically or electrically controlled by means of line 3, with hydraulic control being possible if line 3 consists ofa pipe instead ofa cable.

The apparatus, which is assembled on platform P projecting from the floating installation N, is lowered by means of cables 3 and 10.

The base structure 14 is laid onto the water bed by means of cables which are thereupon put under constant tension by adjusting the winches on which they are reeled.

Tube I8 is lowered simultaneously with the base structure, the insertion of the tube into the vibrating device having been previously effected at the water surface.

The tube is thus driven vertically at the selected location, irrespective of the configuration of the water bottom, and the inclination taken by the base structure 14 lying on the water bottom has no influence on the driving direction of tube 18, since the vibrating device is not rigidly secured to the base structure 14.

The driving work begins after the motors of the vibrating device 13 have been actuated by remote control from the surface installation through the control cable or pipe b. As the driving operation proceeds, the tension in the cables 12 may be decreased by remote control from the ship through the control device 17 connected to the winches 11, but this tension must remain sufficient at the beginning of the driving operation to provide for the vertical orientation of tube 18 (FIG. 2A). A

In FIG. 2B, the driving operation has been effected over such a depth that the core-barrel is now filled up.

The driving operation is and then stopped, then this corebarrel is raised to the water surface and emptied; the vibrating device 13 is disconnected from the tube 18 through remote control from the ship N and then is located at another level of this tube by remotely actuating the winches 11 on which are wound the cables 12. The vibrating device 13 is then made integral again with the tube 18.

In FIG. 2D, the core-barrel 19 has been placed back to its initial position and its fixation to the tube is controlled from the surface installation upon actuation of an electric contact at the end of the stroke of this barrel within the tube 18 with this contact delivering an electric signal transmitted through a conductor of the cable 3 or by any other means.

The vibrating device 13 is then again actuated and the driving operation is continued by successive runs, as above-indicated, until the desired driving depth is reached.

In order to raise the apparatus back to the surface installation it is sufficient to let the vibrating device run and to exert simultaneously a sufficient pull on cables 3 and 10.

What we claim is:

1. An apparatus for driving an elongated element into underwater grounds and being operated from a central installation, including means for generating oriented periodical impulses, which generating means is adaptable to the elongated element and submergible together with the elongated element, power supply means and means for remotely controlling said generating means from the central installation, means for supporting the assembly comprising said impulse-generating means and the elongated element to be driven through connection means for orientating the elongated element relative to the water bottom independently of the orientation of said supporting means which is stationary with respect to the water bottom and located in the vicinity of the water bottom.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said connection means is constituted by at least one flexible line.

3. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said supporting means includes a base structure adapted to rest steadily on the water bottom, and means for exerting an adjustable tension on said flexible line, and said means for exerting an adjustable tension being connected to the central installation through a line for remote control.

4. An apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said means for exerting an adjustable tension on said flexible line includes at least one constant-tension winch supported by said base structure. 

1. An apparatus for driving an elongated element into underwater grounds and being operated from a central installation, including means for generating oriented periodical impulses, which generating means is adaptable to the elongated element and submergible together with the elongated element, power supply means and means for remotely controlling said generating means from the central installation, means for supporting the assembly comprising said impulse-generating means and the elongated element to be driven through connection means for orientating the elongated element relative to the water bottom independently of the orientation of said supporting means which is stationary with respect to the water bottom and located in the vicinity of the water bottom.
 2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said connection means is constituted by at least one flexible line.
 3. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said supporting means includes a base structure adapted to rest steadily on the water bottom, and means for exerting an adjustable tension on said flexible line, and said means for exerting an adjustable tension being connected to the central installation through a line for remote control.
 4. An apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said means for exerting an adjustable tension on said flexible line includes at least one constant-tension winch supported by said base structure. 